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Firefighter Injured After House Fire

The cause of a house fire early Friday morning in Fort Smith is still under investigation after a firefighter was injured trying to extinguish the flames.

Fort Smith firefighters responded at around 2:30 a.m. Friday to a vacant residence on fire in the 500 block of South 14th Street, Fire Marshal Ronnie Rogers said.

The house was being converted into a duplex and no one was listed as living there, Rogers said. The electricity and gas were not turned on, nor was there any evidence of lightning damage or cigarette butts on the ground, Rogers said.

By the time firefighters arrived, the fire was coming out of the windows in the north side of the house and the front door, and the flames reached into the attic, Rogers said. It took about eight minutes to extinguish the flames.

“By the looks of it, they got a pretty good start,” Rogers said.

One firefighter hurt his knee after he tripped on something in the dark house and went to Sparks Regional Medical Center for treatment, Rogers said. The firefighter was listed in good condition and released that morning.

Investigators sent samples from the scene to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for testing. The investigation is still ongoing, but Rogers said there have been several instances of people going inside the vacant houses in the neighborhood.

“Sometimes people get there to keep warm,” Rogers said.

The cause of the fire will be determined pending the investigation, Rogers said.